Letters – issue 1030

We are family

Please don’t embarrass the relos back home Julia. The UK has had a progressive law called the Civil Partnership Act 2004 for a while now of which gives gay couples full and equal rights comparable to straight married couples. And lo and behold the world hasn’t fallen apart.

You don’t want the motherland to think that we are still some backward convict colony now do you?
— Ian

Gillard and marriage

Re: Gillard marriage meeting push (SSO 1029), what about basic rights such as the right to protection in the Federal Equal Opportunity Act?

Where are the basic rights and protections for our community? For our diversity? Why is it not protected?

What is the point of same-sex marriage if we cannot get these basics rights first? What about a date for all discrimination to be ended by Federal Labor? What about the year?

Do they think they have done enough? Is our community only worth being a financial centre so we can be better taxed and get less in Centrelink payments? They believe in your relationship as far as that goes.

Is this all we are to Labor? Why are they offering to do no more if they win government?

In her first week Gillard attacked us, the next on her list was the refugees. Sending them to one of the poorest nations in the world that still has children starving to death. She is bullying them using their oil and gas to blackmail them.

She is being the hater because she can get away with it. Because Bill Shorten and his Labor Warlords do not like us. They want revenge as we dared to challenge them on topics such as gay marriage.

I am so tired of federal Labor. So tired of the haters. We are more then just a financial centre, we are so much more then that.
— Dave

VOTE CATCHER

It is all very well for these MPs and “wanna be” MPs to state what their personal view may be (Labor candidate supports gay marriage, SSO 1029), but if they fail to carry that through into parliament then their personal view is meaningless.

Sydney MP Tanya Plibersek is a typical example. She’ll wheel herself out near elections and run around attempting to swing some gay votes her way making platitudes about how she “sympathises and understands”.

But the moment she is re-elected she’s back to toeing the Labor Party Line in public and private, and same-sex issues don’t get a look in.
­— Rob

GREEN REALITY

It’s great that the Greens support SSM (Labor candidate supports gay marriage, SSO 1029), but what can they actually do in parliament except jump up and down about the issue? They will never have a majority to implement legislative change.

We need more ALP members like Cath to work to change the conservative elements of the ALP. Even if the Greens gain the balance of power the ALP and Coalition will still have a majority and could jointly sink any move to implement same-sex marriage.
— Joe

Brethren #1

Re: Christian Brethren challenged (SSO 1029), anti-discrimination statutes all work the same way in this respect: if you offer a job, accommodation, good or service to the general public, you must accept that the general public is entitled to do business with you, without discrimination.

Christian Brethren could have avoided this problem by confining their offers to (acceptable) religious organisations (presumably there are other ‘lifestyles’ they also don’t wish to ‘promote’, such as unmarried couples, divorce, remarriage, other faiths).

In any case, they have done the rest of us the service of demonstrating that “christian” organisations seldom are.
— Chris

Brethren #2

Should this article be titled ‘Gay community snub Christian values’?

Lets face it, there are dozens of camp sites available. So why yet again do we see the gay community snubbing it’s nose and challenging other peoples values?

It would appear to me these characters are demanding the broader community protect their rights but with no regard what so ever for the rights and values of others.

So yet again we see the equal opportunities act used as it was intended, to provide rights to those who choose to live on the fringes of mainstream, giving them far greater rights than others.
­— Ian

Brethren #3

This is just stupid. A commercial operation that discriminated, nothing more and nothing less. It happens to be owned by the Brethren.

Go to a Brethren Church and they turn you away, understandable, but use the services of a commercial business and you should not expect to be discriminated against.

What happens if the Brethren buys the only hospital in town, or the only gas station? You are telling me they should be able to discriminate? Utter stupidity.
— David

Brethren #4

I believe there is a difference between organisations not wanting to serve other organisations with opposite values and serving individuals whose values we may or may not know.

Yes, Jesus associated with all individuals but he did stand up for God when he drove the money changers out of the temple and some, like the rich young ruler went away sad because they could not accept what Jesus said.

I’m sure Christian Brethren also serve all individuals irrespective of their beliefs as they are mainstream Christians unlike Exclusive Brethren.
— Diedre

Brethren #5

I wonder if the campsite operators check the marriage licences of every heterosexual couple to see if they are living in sin … or the run around the campsite at nights with a torch to make sure no young people are fornicating.

If they don’t, then the rejection of the gay community group has nothing to do with beliefs but everything to do with hypocrisy.
— Anthony